Remembering those we lost in 2007.

[PeaceNikki]

Here is a list of some notable losses in the past year. Clearly not all-inclusive. Please feel free to add others I've missed.

May they rest in peace and may their efforts be never forgotten.

900 Military personnel in Iraq- plus 3 that remain unconfirmed by the DoD (source: http://icasualties.org/oif/)


Unknown number of Iraqi civilians


Benazir Bhutto, 54, Pakistani Opposition Leader and former Prime Minister (1988-1990, 1993-1996), assassinated



Russell Coffey, 109, American serviceman, one of three known remaining American veterans of World War I.


Lucius Theus, 85, American airforce major-general, Tuskegee Airman.


Helen Freeman, 75, American endangered species (snow leopards) advocate


Edward Brandt, 74, American doctor and public health official, directed initial response to AIDS


Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler, 82, American civil rights campaigner, member of Tuskegee Airmen


Catherine Troeh, 96, American native people activist and historian


Fannie Lee Chaney, 84, American civil rights activist


William Peters, 85, American journalist and documentarian of race issues
No image found

Boris Yeltsin, 76, first President of the Russian Federation (1991-1999)


Marie Hicks, 83, American civil rights activist


Kurt Vonnegut, 84, American novelist and social critic


Jim Cronin, 55, American conservationist who founded Monkey World


Barbara Gittings, 74, American gay rights campaigner


Mendy Samstein, 68, American civil rights activist, organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee


Larry Stewart, 58, American philanthropist known in Kansas City as "Secret Santa"


Judith Vladeck, 83, American labor lawyer and women's rights advocate

[gateley]

1. R.I.P. Your gifts to us will continue to live on. nt

[Blue_Roses]

2. what is Clinton and Boris Yelton laughing so hard at?

[taterguy]

3. Skip Prosser, a genuinely decent guy who happened to be a bigtime college basketball coach

Prosser spent countless hours volunteering the local Humane Society, which is a cause that's dear to my heart since that's where I got my first dog. He wasn't just a figurehead even though his notoriety was helpful for their big fundraisers.

I'm not a big fan of jocks in general but Prosser was an exception.

He made his little corner of the world a better place and I miss him a lot.

[PeaceNikki]

6. Here's to Skip

:toast:

May his efforts never be forgotten.

[karlrschneider]

4. Much better list than NBC had on the news last night.

They didn't even mention the troops.
:grr:

[PeaceNikki]

5. They didn't want us to "waste our beautiful minds" on the casualities sustained during the war

:grr:

[cascadiance]

7. Don't forget Molly Ivins and Art Buchwald!

They were both huge loses for us!

Molly Ivins:



Art Buchwald:





And on a more personal note for all of us DUers who lost loved ones this year, 48percenter's posts are worth mentioning. I still miss Oliver who passed away shortly after Thanksgiving.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=385&topic_id=77844

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=385&topic_id=79411

[PeaceNikki]

9. Thank you!

I hadn't seen the pet memorials. Beautiful... and sad :cry:

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Dan Folgelberg too. Great list. Thanks for taking htem time. K & R

[cascadiance]

10. Some others worth adding...

Juanita Millender-McDonald - California Dem representative that just recently passed away after getting elected in 2006.



Tom Snyder - his passing seems to be one more loss to the profession of journalism, that has suffered deeply when trying to replace TRUE journalists of the past with a lot of those today that don't want to "rock the boat" any more.



Merv Griffin - though known as being an entertaining personality, he was also helpful in getting controversial subjects on the air, like Bertrand Russell on the Vietnam war.



Julia Carson - Another congress person that passed away too soon from cancer!

[cascadiance]

11. Benazir Bhutto's sister in law, Naheed, was just killed yesterday too...

According to these reports..

http://benazibhutto.blogspot.com/2007/12/bbs-relative-killed-in-accident.html

Interesting that it looks to be removed from this Pakistani newspaper after being spidered by Google earlier:

http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=mozilla2&oe=utf-8&um=1&tab=wn&hl=en&q=%22Naheed+Bhutto%22&btnG=Search+News

And that link on that page goes to a page with no content in it:

http://thepost.com.pk/NatNews.aspx?dtlid=136717&catid=2

Here was the cached version from Yahoo (Google didn't have it cached), that basically is the same content of what is showing in the above blog link:

http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=%22Naheed+Bhutto%22&y=Search&fr=yfp-t-501&u=www.thepost.com.pk/NatNews.aspx%3Fdtlid%3D136717%26catid%3D2&w=%22naheed+bhutto%22&d=R-WCjLXiQDWj&icp=1&.intl=us

Conspiracy?

[PeaceNikki]

12. Lady Bird Johnson, 94, First Lady of the United States

[PeaceNikki]

13. Luciano Pavarotti, 71, Italian tenor in opera music

[cascadiance]

15. On that note, also add Beverly Sills too, who also passed last year in July

[Contrary1]

14. Steve Fossett

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Fossett

[bumblebee1]

16. While you mentioned Molly Ivins,

we also forgot Ann Richards, former Gov of Texas.

[Xenotime]

17. Thank you.

[BrklynLiberal]

18. K&R

[eppur_se_muova]

19. Lloyd Brown, the last remaining U.S. Navy veteran of World War I (1901-2007)

Associated Press | April 02, 2007
CHARLOTTE HALL, Maryland - Lloyd Brown, the last known U.S. Navy veteran to fight in World War I, has died. He was 105.

Brown died Thursday at the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home in Maryland, according to family and the U.S. Naval District in Washington.
***
The fourth of nine children, Brown was born Oct. 7, 1901, in Lutie, Missouri, a small farming town in the Ozark Mountains. In 1918, 16-year-old Brown lied about his age to join the Navy and was soon on the gun crew on the battleship USS New Hampshire.
***
Brown finished his tour of duty in 1919, took a break for a couple of years, then re-enlisted. He learned to play the cello at musicians school at Norfolk, Virginia, and was assigned to an admiral's 10-piece chamber orchestra aboard the USS Seattle.

When Brown ended his military career in 1925, he joined the Washington Fire Department's Engine Company 16, which served the White House and embassies.
***
more: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,130817,00.html

I drove past this retirement home a few times -- never knowing they had a WWI survivor.

[eppur_se_muova]

20. Charlotte Winters, the last surviving female World War I veteran (1898?-2007)

Last Female WWI Vet Dies at 109
Last Surviving Female World War I Veteran Dies in Maryland Nursing Home at Age 109

BOONSBORO, Md. Mar 28, 2007 (AP)

The last known surviving American female World War I veteran, a refined Civil War buff who met face-to-face with the Secretary of the Navy to fight for women in the military, has died. She was 109.

Charlotte Winters died Tuesday at a nursing home near Boonsboro in northwest Maryland, the U.S. Naval District in Washington said in a statement. Her death leaves just five known surviving American World War I veterans.

In 1916, Winters met with Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to persuade him to allow women in the service, said Kelly Auber, who grew up on South Mountain, where Winters and her husband, John Winters, settled.

When the Navy opened support roles to women, Winters and her sister, Sophie, joined immediately in 1917, Auber said. By December 1918, the Naval District said more than 11,000 women had enlisted and were serving in support positions.

Winters served as a secretary and retired in 1953 with the rank of yeoman in the U.S. Naval Reserve.
***
more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2990040